Beetles in culture, life, dreams and literature often share a common set of symbols.
Beetles often symbolize:
- Teamwork
- Nourishment
- Adaptation
- Cleanliness
- Persistence
- Transformation
- Strength
- Adaptability
- Recycling
This peculiar little animal comes with a big spiritual power… It’s easy to overlook it and step over it, but only when you start to analyze it more you learn how much power it has.
Below are detailed explanations of each of the beetle’s common symbols.
> This article is from our series on insect symbolism
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Beetle Symbolism and Meanings
1. Teamwork
Beetles rely on larger teams, or rather colonies that enable them to survive and build impressive nests. They wouldn’t be able to survive and thrive if they didn’t work in groups together.
They are much smaller than most other animals in their habitat, which means they have to work together, as compared to other animals that are more individual. They work towards the same goal in order to achieve what they set out to do – which would not be possible if they didn’t do that.
Beetles portray an important lesson to us all, which is that in some moments in our lives, we have to let go of our individuality and focus on doing something that’s good for something greater than us.
Read Also: Green Beetle Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism
2. Strength
It’s said that beetles are able to carry items and things that are up to several times heavier than they are. Without this ability, they wouldn’t be able to create large conglomerates underground but also build impressive living conditions for themselves.
This feature also allows them to bring larger chunks of food to their domain and then save them for later on when they’re in need. Or, they provide for the entire colony, which helps them get fed and develop strong communities once again.
See Also: Locust Bug Symbolism
3. Adaptability
Even though beetles are small, they’ve been able to survive for much longer than most species around them. Some researchers say that beetles have been around for around 327 million years, which is an astonishing achievement!
They are able to adapt to their surroundings and develop mechanisms to survive. Most of the time, that means working together with their colonies in order to establish systems where they are able to get food and shelter.
This means that the beetle symbolism is telling you to make changes in your life that you don’t necessarily like, but these are the changes that will be beneficial for you in the long term.
> See Also: Centipede Symbolism
4. Recycle
Beetles are cleaners of their environments. They are responsible for removing dead plants and animals by gathering the food that not many other creatures would like. They will consume nature’s dump in order to save the environment and let it recycle.
This process of recycling is massively important for the nature around us. It’s necessary for new animals and new plants to grow and thrive. Without it, nature just wouldn’t be able to survive as there would be dead parts of nature out there where new life can be created.
That’s why beetles are able to survive in almost any habitat where there is enough of this waste to keep them going. They’re one of the largest species in terms of numbers, too.
5. Cleanliness
As we’ve already discussed, an important role that beetles play is to clean up nature and make it ready for other species. They act as a sort of nature’s cleaner that will make sure that it’s clean enough for other animals and plants to live in.
This role of theirs is often overlooked and underappreciated. They can act as our reminder to clean up after ourselves and leave the environment clean and healthy. We produce too much waste and the beetles are working overtime to clean it.
Related Article: Brown Beetle Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism
6. Transformation
Beetles are symbols of transformation (much like dragonflies). They have a set few phases of development where they go from egg to larvae, to the pupal form, and finally, they will turn into the beetles that we see out in the world.
This process is quite a complicated one but interesting to observe, too. Another way we can connect the beetles to transformation is also how they transformed over millions of years in order to survive on Earth. There are thousands of variations of beetles, each one with its own unique features.
Read Also: Black Beetle Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism
7. Persistence
The beetle symbolism is also teaching you to be persistent in the pursuit of your goals. Sometimes, teamwork and adaptability will not be enough, as you’ll need to stay resilient no matter what nature throws at you – you can’t control the external workings of the world, so it’s better to control yourself and stay strong.
This can be a valuable lesson that the beetle symbolism can teach us. With this level of persistence, beetles have been able to survive for more than 300 million years as a species, and it looks like they’ll be around for quite some time, too.
What does the Beetle Spirit Animal Bring you?
You might think to yourself why would one have the beetle as their spirit animal; but once you get a closer look at the species, you start to appreciate the small and important things that make this animal so symbolically important.
The beetle spirit animal teaches you to adapt to your surroundings and give up your individuality when you need to. This means that you should work with other people to achieve a common goal, which is easier than working alone. You need more structure in your life, which is what the beetle is telling you.
This spirit animal can also be significant to you when you’re undergoing a change in your life. It shows you the way to undergo transformations, which everyone on Earth does to an extent. The more you accept it, the more you’ll start to appreciate how important it is to keep us going.
Lastly, it’s telling you to adapt to your surroundings and accept the outside world as it is. Because trying to change the outside world would be impossible – it is much easier to change yourself and adapt to it rather than trying to go against the flow of nature.
Beetle Totem Animal Meanings
Those with the beetle totem animal know the importance of connecting with other people in order to achieve common goals. They know that they would have a much harder time achieving something on their own when they have strong competitors that are several times stronger than they are.
They are also very aware of the world around them and they are capable of adapting to it nicely. For them, developing a resilient and tough mind is one of the more important things in life, especially when trying to achieve something difficult.
The beetle totem animal is a bit special in its own right; it doesn’t have flashy meanings as some other larger spirit animals. But it has a profound and deep meaning that can be beneficial to almost anyone out there.
What does it Mean when you Dream about Beetles?
What does it mean to dream about beetles?
- Dreaming about beetles can mean that you appreciate the people around you and that you’re very aware of how important it is to connect with them to help you survive. This aspect often gets neglected in our world nowadays, especially because many people take it for granted.
- A beetle in dreams can have both positive and negative meanings; on a positive note, a dream of a beetle can represent your mental toughness to face the difficult things in the world. On the other hand, beetle dreams can be a sign of turmoil or negativity coming to your life soon.
- Sometimes, beetle dreams might also be about money and material things. For example, they might be telling you to think about your monetary decisions that might impact you in the future, such as lending money or borrowing it from other people. This applies especially if you’re having a tough time deciding what to do in your walking life with this money.
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Conclusion
Beetles are inconspicuous to look at, and they might seem very unimportant at first. But once you start exploring what they do and how beneficial they are for us, you’ll start to appreciate their importance to the world.
Having lived for millions of years, they are a symbol of resilience and adaptability. They also portray the importance of working in groups to create something big and strong and to win against the odds.
Some people are genuinely bothered and even scared of beetles, but they’re quite peaceful animals. They rely on teamwork heavily to survive, as well as their instinct to adapt to their environment.
But beetles are not just good for themselves and their families, but also for the rest of the world. They help restore nature and recycle it as they consume waste and dead parts of other animals in order to restore that natural cycle and keep it going. They also represent cleanliness, persistence, and transformation.
I’m Chris and I run this website – a resource about symbolism, metaphors, idioms, and a whole lot more! Thanks for dropping by.